Abstract There has been a revolution in biomedicine fueled by the development of next generation sequencing technologies. These advances have made it possible to address systems level questions. Instead of determining the effect of a perturbation on one gene, all genes can be assessed simultaneously. Instead of asking how a transcription factor binds to a single promoter or enhancer, now all binding sites for that factor can be determined in a single experiment. Taking advantage of these approaches involves the application of specialized technical and analytical skills, and may be beyond the reach of a single laboratory. Mindful of these issues, and of the need to apply cutting edge genome-wide technology to questions of relevance to diabetes, obesity, and metabolic disease, we have established a Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics Core. The goals of this Core are to provide access to state-of-the-art methods to members of the BNORC community, in order to enhance and facilitate a deeper understanding of how metabolic disease develops, and how it can be diagnosed and treated.